A Presence Within
by Chisis
Summary: There is something in Syaoran's home. It's there, somewhere, hiding. If that wasn't enough to worry, why doesn't Sakura notice anything? Is it all in his head?


Disclaimer: I do not own these characters

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Syaoran paused, glancing up from the computer and looking around him.

It had been there. Just a moment ago. A sense of something not quite right. No, that wasn't it. It was different. A sense of something very different.

He took a deep breath, concentrating his energies around him, wondering if his senses could find whatever was out of place. He knew something was, and he didn't like it. Whatever it was, he felt uncomfortable, a need to squash it out.

Again. A small tingling sensation around the base of his neck.

He reached up and rubbed the area, and the tingling disappeared.

Now he was getting angry. He stood up quickly, scanning the room around. Whatever this presence was, it was too close for comfort. He thought of Sakura downstairs, who was trying to bake something for the idiot's party tomorrow night.

"Do you want some help?" he asked.

"No, not this time. I have to make it on my own, or else it doesn't count. You should get something for Eriol as well, something nice this time." She had that voice again, that determined voice she got whenever she was doing something for others.

"He is only leaving for one year. Why should I get him anything?"

"Because, it a nice thing to do. Going to Egypt to study the ruins is amazing, and he should have a good send off."

"Idiot." But Syaoran remembered Sakura's father at the university, and he felt a tremendous urge to go upstairs and study the old texts and scrolls for anything about old cities. Even four years after he had first asked Fujitaka for his daughter, he still wanted to impress the old man. And if he happened to know more about a subject then Eriol, well, all the better.

Syaoran felt his muscles tense as the minutes ticked by slowly as he stood in the room, motionless. He tried not to think of this as a failure, a complete failure of protection, a complete failure on his part. He tried not to think of Touya-baka and how he would react if he knew that Syaoran had failed to protect this house, this house where Sakura lived. He tried not to think about how Eriol would have set up more magic defenses than he did, how he would have probably accounted for anything and everything and how he, Syaoran Li, did not.

Syaoran breathed in deeply through his nose. Downstairs, a crash sounded up through the floors. "OUCH, hot!"

The slightest prickling sensation started once more, this time around his ears.

Syaoran turned around, reaching up for the sword around his neck and tearing it away. The sword activated in his hand.

Ah, better.

It stopped. Gone as soon as it had came.

He cursed as he looked around the room, keeping his sword low at a good striking point.

How had this presence escaped his attention for so long? There were many magic barriers around the house, not to mention the charms, and the spell Eriol had cast. what could have slipped passed all of that unnoticed and gotten into their home? His home! It was not natural, and that made it even worse.

Spirits rarely bothered to make themselves known, and this didn't feel like any spirit. Maybe a curse? No, it didn't feel like that at all.

In fact, he wasn't sure what it felt like. Besides the soft tingling, it really didn't have a specific imprint. Not bad or good, just there. Either way, that meant that Syaoran wasn't likely to be able to predict its intentions ahead of time.

He gripped his sword harder as he slowly moved through the room, walking on the balls of his feet toward the hallway.

The burnt smell of something entered his nostrils, and Syaoran glanced to and fro around the hallway, trying to sense where this thing was.

He wasn't sure if it was irritation at himself for allowing this intruder in, or if he was irritated that he couldn't find where the hell this thing was, or if was simply because his pride had been tested, but he found himself growing impatient. He cursed himself for forgetting this morning's exercises.

Generally, Syaoran spent the first part of the morning preparing himself, but today, Sakura had woken up and had gotten out of the bed much faster than normal. If that wasn't unusual in itself, it doubled because she had woken up before him and before the alarm clock. For the better part of an hour, her head was over the rim of the toilet, her face contorted as she threw up the remains of last night's dinner.

As for himself, he had gotten out of bed and found himself standing at the door, wondering what to do. He finally decided to sit with her, occasionally stroking her back. He was never good in this situations, never knowing what to say or do. However, she didn't mention anything to him at the time and after a hour she was smiling again, the incident all but forgotten.

Oh, why did this have to happen now? The day he decided not to practice, surely this was an omen.

At least, he thought, he was on his own ground, his own territory. The magic in place here was his and Sakura's, mingled together, which only gave it more strength. So there was that.

But it still troubled him to no end that he couldn't figure out what was this presence was doing here.

Sakura came around the corner. "Syaoran, what are you doing?"

"Shh..." He closed his eyes, willing his aura to seek it out.

Again, nothing came to him.

"What is it, Syaoran?" She walked up the stairs, scanning around the room herself. Her breathing slowed, her eyebrows lowered in seriousness.

There! He felt it! The tiny prickling around his neck and ears, it had gotten stronger! Weak, still, but with a bit more insistence than before.

He opened his eyes, clutching the sword in one hand and moving his body around to place Sakura behind him. She made a small noise at his movement, but remained where she was between him and the wall.

"Do you feel that?" He asked, holding the sword out in front of him. Where, where was it?

"Feel what?" The pricking was there, the slightest of touches around his ears.

"That, that presence..." At her confused look, he grew worried.

Sakura was much better at sensing things then he was. His powers were in areas of combat, and sensing auras and spirits was not his expertise. She, on the other hand, had a much more rounded sensing ability, part natural and probably part luck. For her not to notice anything at all scared him.

"I don't feel anything,"

"It's around here, somewhere, I just can't find it."

He felt her move behind him and knew she was reaching for her key. "Should I..."

The prickling stopped once more, just like before.

He paused, waiting. After a moment, he deactivated his sword and turned to her. "No, it's nothing." He looked in her eyes, those big green eyes and the worry in them. He gripped her hands. "It nothing." he repeated, more for his assurance than hers. "Its a small presence I felt, small," he stressed.

"What did it feel like?"

"I don't know. It was around my ears, my neck. It's there for a second then it simply disappears." He described the event in the computer room to her.

"That is strange. How did it get past everything?" She glanced at the front door where there was a simple charm hanging from the doorknob.

"That's what I want to find out." he sighed. "I wish I could just find it." Failure, he thought. Complete failure.

"Well, if it wasn't strong, and it didn't give off anything negative, I suppose we are still safe." She smiled, trying to bring him back into perspective. "Come on, help me in the kitchen. It will take your mind off things."

Syaoran didn't want to. What he really wanted was to search the house and check outside, and then practice his drills. He wanted to be sure that nothing was going to harm Sakura. Nothing, not while he was there.

"Come on," she tugged on his arm, "really, there's nothing to worry about. If you want, I can call Kero-chan over,"

"No!" That was the last thing he wanted. That stuffed animal over looking around for something he couldn't find first. Protecting him, ha! Never.

"Fine then, just leave it. You said yourself that whatever this thing is it is small and weak." She pulled him into the kitchen and sat him down by the counter. It was to distract him, he knew, that she brought him in here.

"I thought you wanted to do this by yourself,"

She turned around with a large mixing bowl in her arms, stirring up some chocolate.

Damn Eriol, he thought, looking at the bowl, the matter of the presence set aside for a moment. Why did Eriol need chocolate? That was his favorite dessert.

"I know, but if I mess up or anything, you can tell me. I want this to be just prefect for Eriol-chan," She smiled, looking at the bowl.

"It's prefect already," he said softly. When the words came out of his mouth, he wasn't even looking at the bowl.

"What?"

"Nothing." She gave him a puzzling look, but resume mixing after a moment of silence.

It was one of the more comfortable silences he had known as he sat watching her whip the batter, her thin arms moving with the large spoon.

Watching her was admittedly one of his favorite pasttimes, though he would never say such things out loud. if she noticed, she never said anything, allowing him to scan over her with such intensity it would make others blush. She was his to look at after all, and he took part in this activity when he could. From her soft hair to her curves, he knew her anatomy as something to be admired.

As she turned her back to him, reaching for a box above her head he noticed just how her dress came up, showing off more and more leg as she strained to get the ingredient.

He came up behind her silently, and reached for the box with much more ease.

"Oh, thank you," she had barely turned around when he kissed her, pressing her up to the cabinate. She let out a small 'oh' but replied to his kiss by running her fingers through his hair.

He hadn't realized how much he needed her till right then, how long it had been since he had done this. He dropped the box in favor of putting his hands on her hips, then running them down over her bottom, sqeezing. She pushed up her hips, moaning in his mouth.

Prickling began around his ears and neck.

Syaoran quickly jumped back, reaching for his sword and activating it in a flash. Sakura looked at him in confusion, her breathing heavy and irregular from their actions seconds before.

"Did you feel it?"

"Feel what?"

The prickling continued. "That, that!" he said, his eyes looking around the room. Odd, it seemed to be stronger in the kitchen...

"Its in here." He stated flatly. "I know it is, it is around here somewhere," he moved slowly around, looking at the cabinates, the refrigerator, the door.

Never mind your sight, he thought. If it can't be seen, don't try to use your eyes, sense it out. Come on, where are you?

"Syaoran, I don't feel anything."

The prickling was leading him now, his ears grew warm and the tingling went from the base of his neck up to his head.

Yes, it was definitely in the room. And since he could feel it with magically sensitive areas of his body, his ears and neck, that meant the presence was reacting to something.

It still didn't solve the mystery of why Sakura couldn't feel anything! That was annoying him as he moved around the kitchen. His ears grew warmer. He was getting closer...closer...

With his eyes closed, he could concentrate much more acutely on the engeries in the room. He felt his own surrounding himself, and he felt Sakura next to him, her aura so familiar. But if he concentrated hard enough, he could just barely feel the other presence in the room.

It was so tiny, so small, and yet, if that was the case, why could he feel it? Why was he the only one that noticed it? From upstairs, it wasn't as strong, but it got stronger as ...

A twisting sensation in his stomach made his eyes pop open. He found it. It was barely noticable, but he found it.

Sakura watched calmly as Syaoran had moved around the room only to come to a complete stop in front of her. His eyes, once closed, now were wide open with their bright amber shinning at her. No, she thought, following his gaze. Not at her. At her stomach.

"What is it?" Unease fluttered around her and she put her hand to her abdomen in order to stop his gaze. "WHy are you looking at me like that?" For a moment, she wondered if she had spilled something on her dress, some chocolate or sugar perhaps, and he was looking at the stain.

"Sakura," he said slowly, his voice pronouncing each syllable with considerable weight. "Do you feel, uh, different?"

"No," she replied quickly. "I feel just fine," Her hand hadn't moved from its place. "Do I seem different?" She put her other hand to her forehead, "I mean, I have felt sick, and I'm a bit tired, but that's all."

Moving towad her, Syaoran kept glancing downward then back up to her eyes. For the first time ever, his eyes were shinny. Very shinny.

He opened his mouth and the words didn't come out. What was he supposed to say? He was not good with words, he was good with actions. But if she didn't have a clue, then what was he supposed to do? No one ever taught him what to do in this situation. But, but, but...a part of him still wasn't convinced, that same part of him was wishing he was wrong in his assumption, and that he had to be a hundred percent sure before he said anything. He had to be sure.

He reached down and slid his hand underneath hers, waiting for a moment.

A small, tiny tingling sensation touched his fingertips, and he just barely felt the presence.

Syaoran stood there, dumbfounded. Emotions were overloading him; he wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. No, he thought, I'm not ready, I'm not ready, I'm not ready ...He thought of his father, his mother and their failures. Simulantiously, he wanted a child so badly all of the sudden, he thought of how many nights he and Sakura stayed up, talking about their future, his future. How she said he would be a good father, regardless of what his father was to him, how she loved him...

Now there was someone inside of her.

"Syaoran? Syaoran?"

Her voice brought him back into the reality, and her big green eyes looked at him for understanding.

Ah, now what? What was he supposed to say?

"Syaoran, please, say something, anything. You're starting to frighten me, you look so pale. Do you want to sit down?" She took his hand into her own, feeling relief at moving it away from her stomach. Normally, Sakura would not have minded such movement on his part, for it was so rare, but this was so different from all those other times.

He smiled at her, again, so rare, as she lead to back down to a seat, "Let me get you some water"

Just as she turned, he grabbed her arm and held her there. "Sakura, you have something inside of you."

As soon as he said it, Syaoran regretted it. That seemed so blunt, so unloving of him. But at the same time, he doubted if he could have managed anything other than those words.

She stopped. "What did you say?"

"You, ah, there is something-no, one, someone, ah, inside of you." He looked down at her midsection again for emphasis. "I think you're, ah, we, are..." This was not going well. The words were coming out all wrong, getting lost somewhere between his brain and his tongue.

He paused, taking a breath. "You're pregnant."

Sakura stared at him, for the first time not saying anything.

This was uncomfortable silence, he thought. Dear Kami, help me.

The moment stretched on for a little further, complete silence. And then, her eyes watered.

Syaoran jumped up quickly and gathered her into his arms. He was awful with words, but this he could do. He could be her protector, he could gather up her small body in his arms. This he knew he was good at. He could hold her, he could comfort her more through his body than anything else.

She hiccupped and sniffled, lifting her head up to look into his eyes. His shinny eyes met her shinny eyes, and in that instant he understood.

It wasn't for sadness she started crying, it was for happiness. She was overjoyed. Overjoyed at what was inside of her. Her child. Their child.

He stroked her hair, holding her closer. She was his, truly. "I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too,"

They stood there in the kitchen for a long time.

And they simply held on to each other for a long time.

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Author's note: This is my take on the whole-I'm pregnant-story that pops up all the time. This story was mainly an exercise in keeping Sakura and Syaoran within their characters and their reactions real, if somewhat overdone. If I did well, or, better yet, if I did not do well, leave me a note

Thanks for reading


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